Manhunt 2 ... and another unexpected reprieve

Controversy be dammed, Manhunt is back, and it's about as subtle as a pair of pliers wrapped around your ball bag. With an original cast of characters, new story and more colourful locations than those seen in Carcer City, Manhunt 2 aims to build on the core ethos established in the first game - that is: psychosis, heightened paranoia, mistrust and , of course, absolute balls-to-the-walls violence - to present players with the most harrowing experience this franchise has offered yet. Suffer no delusions here: Manhunt 2 means business.

It's something wildly different from the static snuff movie and revenge-filled story of the first game, with a lead character nowhere near as quiet nor as confident as James Earl Cash. This time, you'll play Dr Daniel Lamb, a scientist who once worked on something known as the Pickman Project. Due to the controversial nature of many of its experiments the company came under fire, and the forces that be closed one project in particular. However, Dr Pickman, the overseer of the whole thing, convinces Lamb that if they can prove the experiment's success, all will be forgiven, Lamb, an ambitious soul, fronts himself as the guinea pig.

But, this being Manhunt, nothing is as it seems and defects emerge along with terrible unforeseen side effect. To silence Lamb the Project put him in Dixmor Hospital - an insane asylum on it’s payroll, hiding previous victims of its experiments away form society. Daniel spends six years in a cell, soon beginning to doubt his sanity. Then, one night, a freak electrical storm knocks out the facility’s electrical system, creating a rare opportunity for escape. As the inmates storm the asylum, Lamb and fellow patient Leo, ostensibly another victim of the Project's past, escape. Once out it's up to them to discover just what the Project is up to, and why Lamb - was admitted in the first place.

It's been three years since Manhunt was released and, while its graphics don't stand up too well, its gameplay does. Right from the off it's clear that, as different as it appears, this is still very much a part of the franchise in terms of play. The emphasis still rests on avoiding people by sticking to the shadows and, while there, your character icon changes to blue to indicate your visibility. Enemy proximity is displayed on the radar at the bottom-left of the screen, which also displays the direction they're facing and their overall or current level of awareness: yellow is obvious, orange on alert and red means they're entirely aware of you. Immediate objects show up green arrows on the radar too.

It's also worth mentioning that while obviously different, the sound design is still distinctly Manhunt. Craig Conner and Alan Walker BAFTA nominated for their amazing work on the previous game, return for this sequel and their work is just as phenomenal as before. So what's new?

Well as far as executions ho you can now use certain areas of the environment. A phone, a toilet, a fuse box - the list goes on and on. A small X on your radar indicates whenever you're in an environment kill area, and it's just a case of carrying out the kill as normal and watching as Lamb beats someone with a phone, then strangles them with the cord. You can also create your own shadows now - an omission that was to the detriment of the previous game. One of the bigger additions is external sound. Like the previous game, whenever Lamb makes a noise an expanding red circle indicates its travelling extent, and whether any enemies are caught within it - alerting them.

You can now base actions within external sound. In the brother level, the groans of a satisfied customer and the moans of satisfier ring out, an expanding red circle appearing on the radar. Any enemies within that circle will temporarily turn blue, the sound having deafened them and thus letting you strike. You could therefore smash a window and climb into a room quite safely - something that, if you balls up, could have gun-toting goons on your hide in no time. Speaking of which, forearms will play a much bigger role now, changing the gameplay drastically within levels. You can now perform firearm executions too. Lamb can also climb and crawl, making him far more nimble than Cash and enabling him to get to areas you previously couldn't.

With these new additions in mind, Rockstar London is clearly thinking big for it's PS2 swan song, However. It couldn't have picked a more surprising game. We weren't too kind to the original but having seen this sequel in action, we're sure that it won't be a repeat performance. Manhunt 2 is certainly different to it's predecessor, but it's also satisfyingly up to snuff.

[Close]